Judges to file petitions
Judges to file petitions
YOUNGSTOWN -- Judges Joseph J. Vukovich and Cheryl L. Waite, both Democrats, were to file their nominating petitions today seeking re-election to their seats on the 7th District Court of Appeals. Judge Vukovich is running for the term that begins Feb. 9, 2003, and Judge Waite is running for the term that begins Feb. 10, 2003. Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, a Republican, has said he's considering a run for a seat on the court. The four-person 7th District court consists of Mahoning, Columbiana, Carroll, Harrison, Jefferson, Belmont, Monroe and Noble.
Car stolen, boy found
AUSTINTOWN -- An 18-month-old boy in the back seat of a car when it was stolen Tuesday night was found unharmed by police shortly after the theft.
The boy's father, 27, of Burkey Road, said he left the car unlocked and running in the parking lot of Scacchetti's restaurant about 8 p.m. while he went into the restaurant to make Valentine's Day reservations. The boy was in a car seat.
The car was taken while the father was in the restaurant. Police found the car a short time later in the parking lot of Gavo's Bar, about a half-mile from Scacchetti's on Mahoning Avenue. The boy was in the back seat sleeping.
Appointed to case
YOUNGSTOWN -- Atty. James Gentile has been appointed to represent Andre Bundy in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Gentile replaces Atty. E. Winther McCroom, who recently retired and moved to Las Vegas.
Bundy, 18, of West Hylda Avenue, faces two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of conspiracy to aggravated robbery stemming from the August 2001 rape of a 21-year-old Boardman woman.
3rd arrest in assault
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police have arrested a third East Side man accused in the beating of a 26-year-old man with a sawed-off shotgun. Raymond LeFlore, 25, of Woodside Avenue was arrested Tuesday on a warrant accusing him of felonious assault against Derrick A. Tinsley.
Also charged in the assault are brothers Willie Green, 25, and Charles Green, 23, both of Lansdowne Boulevard. Both have been bound over to a grand jury, said city Police Detective Sgt. Jose Morales.
Tinsley suffered facial fractures including a broken jaw during the Dec. 22 assault.
A female witness watching from her vehicle told police that Tinsley's Ford Explorer had been boxed in by two other vehicles on Buckeye Circle. When Tinsley left his truck, he was knocked to the ground and beaten in the face and head by several men who used rifles or shotguns to strike him.
Man faces drug charges
YOUNGSTOWN -- City police arrested a 21-year-old South Side man on charges of preparation of drugs for sale and possession of OxyContin after a traffic stop on Rosedale Avenue near Cohasset Drive on the city's South Side. The Willis Avenue man, a rear seat passenger, was arrested about 8 p.m. Tuesday after police saw an open container of beer between his feet. As police searched him, they found a prescription bottle containing 16 suspected OxyContin pills. Half of the painkillers were packaged two-each in small bags.
A label on the bottle showed that a prescription for 60 pills had been filled that day for the man's aunt.
Vandalism reported
YOUNGSTOWN -- An employee of the JD Byrider Service, 755 N. Meridian Road, told police someone had broken into five cars in the parking lot, damaged dash boards and stole radios and a CD player.
Merchandise recovered
BOARDMAN -- A deputy sheriff recovered a bag containing $2,076 in merchandise stolen from the Dillard's department store at the Southern Park Mall after a tussle with a man and a woman who fled in a limousine.
The deputy said he told the couple to stop as they walked toward the car about 7 p.m. Tuesday. The woman ran toward the limousine and the deputy grabbed the merchandise and knocked her to the ground. The man approached the deputy and was ordered to stand behind the car before sitting in the passenger seat and starting the engine.
He then approached the deputy again and the deputy released the woman, who jumped into the driver seat. As the deputy attempted to grab the keys through the open door, the man leaned against him and the limousine began to move forward. The couple fled on California Avenue.